Alluring auction: Metal minnow could fetch $50,000

Wednesday

Oct 31, 2007 at 12:01 AMOct 31, 2007 at 4:01 PM

The lure, one of only three known metal minnows made in the 7 1/2'' size by Riley Haskell in Painesville, Ohio, and marked with his Sept. 20, 1859 patent date, has a pre-sale estimate of $30,000 to $50,000, and is one of the highlights of the Lang's Sporting Collectibles tackle auction.

Richard K. Lodge

An old fishing lure for 50 grand?

Where would you ever use that?

That kind of question might be like a knife through the heart of bidders expected to show up Friday and Saturday at an unusual auction of rare and collectible fishing items.

The lure, one of only three known metal minnows made in the 7 1/2'' size by Riley Haskell in Painesville, Ohio, and marked with his Sept. 20, 1859 patent date, has a pre-sale estimate of $30,000 to $50,000, and is one of the highlights of the Lang's Sporting Collectibles tackle auction.

Considering the fact the only known version of a larger sized Haskell minnow sold at Lang's auction in 2004 for a record $101,200, it would be anyone's guess how high this latest example might go on Saturday, the second day of the two-day sale.

This fall's Lang's auction is unusual because many of the antique rods, reels, lures and sporting art come from the collection of John Moores, owner of the San Diego Padres and a prominent philanthropist. Moores is an avid fly fisherman who became a friend and fishing buddy of former President Jimmy Carter years ago, according to information from John and Debbie Ganung, owners of the New York-based Lang's auction company. Moores, who established the River Blindness Foundation in 1989 to distribute medical treatment for those afflicted with the disease in developing countries,
agreed to donate his huge collection of antique reels and what is thought to be the largest collection of rare sporting books published by the Derrydale Press, starting in the 1930s. Proceeds of the auction benefit The Carter Center, which absorbed Moores' River Blindness Foundation, with the common goal of fighting diseases in developing countries.

In a letter from Carter, published in the first volume of Lang's two-part auction catalog, the former president noted that ``fly fishing and the work of the Carter Center are two of my greatest passions. I am grateful to my friend John Moores for bringing them together in this unique auction.

``Proceeds will support our work to wage peace, fight disease and build hope around the world,'' Carter wrote.

The two-day auction includes an unusual array of rare fishing equipment. One highlight of the auction for fishing reel collectors is a handmade aluminum trout reel, one of less than two dozen such reels made by inventor and author Edward R. Hewitt, a well-known figure in the Catskills before his death in 1957. Hewitt's reel is engraved to Alfred E. Miller, better known as the fishing author Sparse Grey Hackle. The Hewitt fly reel has a pre-sale estimate of $15,000 to $20,000.

Other fishing reels up for auction include the only known example of a William Billinghurst sidemounted fly reel, in its original box. This reel, with its 1859 patent, is considered the first patented American-made fly fishing reel and carries a $14,000 to $18,000 pre-sale estimate.

A rare German silver and aluminum ``Ben Hur'' model reel made in the early 1900s by the William H. Talbot Reel Co. of Nevada, Mo., carries an $8,000 to $10,000 pre-sale estimate.

Among the limited-edition Derrydale Press books from Moores' collection to be auctioned is a copy of Gallant Fox, A Memoir, by William Woodward and published in 1931 in a limited edition of 50. That volume carries a $10,000 to $20,000 pre-sale estimate.

Also in the two-day auction are dozens of items relating to Zane Grey, a famous Western author of the 1920s and '30s who set numerous deep-sea fishing records. One of the more unusual auction offerings is the oak and metal fighting chair, which had been bolted to the deck of boats and used by Grey to steady the large rods and reels he used to haul in swordfish, marlin and other ocean species. The fighting chair has a pre-sale estimate of $7,500 to $10,000.

The auction starts at 11 a.m. Friday and Saturday, with previews from 8 to 11 a.m. at the Holiday Inn, off exit 28 of I-495.